Czech President appoints Justice Minister Pelikán, known for his anti-racist work

Czech President Miloš Zeman has appointed a new Justice Minister today. Robert Pelikán, a 35-year-old lawyer, now holds the post.

Pelikán has worked as legal counsel at several law offices. He represented Richard Frištenský, wcho stood up for homeless people and protected them against municipal police at Prague’s Anděl metro stop in October 2012; filed a criminal report against Mayor Pavel Louda of Nový Bydžov over his racist remarks about Romani people; and represented the surviving children of Ľudovít Kašpar, a Romani man who died as the result of two police officers intervening against him in Kynšperk nad Ohří.

Pelikán has also worked on cases of illegal police interventions against antifascist blockades of neo-Nazi marches in the towns of Krupka and Nový Bydžov in 2011, on the case of a racist attack by neo-Nazis on a citizen in Beroun in 2009, and on the case of the controversial shooting death of a Romani youth in Tanvald on New Year’s Day 2012. He has participated in several anti-racist assemblies and demonstrations, and in September 2011 he was an initiator of the "Hate is No Solution" (Nenávist není řešení) platform.